To learn more about the excitement that brought this project together, we reached out to Jenna Del Vigna, organizer and designer of the anthology:

How did This is Real: Stories Drawn with Strangers come to fruition?

I am a graphic designer and I work in publishing. During final critique and presentations, I saw the opportunity to bring everyone's final project into one collection. I really wanted to remember the experience and knew the other artists felt the same way.

What are some of your favorite aspects of the project?

Firstly, meeting all these beautiful and talented people. I love the different points of views and experiences in life ... and in comics. Some people had never drawn before and others had never documented their stories. We were all from different backgrounds in skill and in life but all found common ground in Sarah's class. It was very warm, affirming and encouraging. A lot of this was directly a result of Sarah's nurturing. She was thoughtful about reading every assignment submitted and took the time to understand everyone's story. She encouraged us to push ourselves forward and offered many examples of other memoirists and comics artists to give us inspiration.

An autobiographical collection of stories